Public beta test of Apple’s OS X Yosemite coming Thursday

At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that it would release a public beta of OS X Yosemite – the next version of the operating system that runs on its Mac computers. This is an unprecedented step for Apple, though competitor Microsoft has been doing this with Windows for years.

On Thursday, Apple will release that public beta. You can sign up for the program here.

As is always the case with beta software, it’s unfinished and there will be bugs and features that don’t work yet. It may break things you’re using to use regularly in OS X. It is for the brave, the geeky and possibly the foolhardy. It is not for the technologically faint-of-heart.

Here’s what you need to know before taking this leap:

Be sure that your Mac is running OS X Mavericks. If you don’t have OS X Mavericks, you can download it free from the Mac App Store. We recommend installing OS X Yosemite Beta on a secondary Mac, since it may contain errors or inaccuracies. Please be sure to back up your Mac using Time Machine before you install the beta. Since the beta software is unfinished, some new features will not be available, such as phone calls, SMS, Handoff, Instant Hotspot, and iCloud Drive. Spotlight suggestions are U.S.-based only. Some applications and services may not work properly with the beta software. When creating or making changes to documents stored in iCloud, your documents will sync only with Macs running the OS X Yosemite Beta and with iOS devices running iOS 8.

Will you install the beta? Let us know in the comments. And once you have, leave us your impressions.